Terminal pedestal

ABSTRACT

Narrower connecting strips and wider connecting strips, which each has plural connecting tips and are of different widths, are fixed such that the narrower ones are superposed on the wider ones thereby making combined connecting strips, which are mounted by a rivet in each compartment provided on an insulator base. Thus desired small, medium and large numbers of the connecting tips on combined connecting strips of common electric connections are obtainable.

This application is a divisional of application Ser. No. 07/994,309,filed Dec. 21, 1992, now abandoned.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART STATEMENT

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a terminal pedestal which is forconnecting lead wires for relaying them, for use in the electricequipment such as a control center unit.

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing an example of the prior art terminalpedestal and FIG. 8 is a side cross-sectional view as seen from a planecut along the line VII--VII in FIG. 7.

In FIGS.7 and 8, an insulator base 21 is press-molded integrally withpartition walls 21A, thereby defining connecting compartments 22. Eachof single connecting strips 23 has a U-shaped cross-section with a pairof connecting tips 29A and 29B for connecting the receiving plugs 50Aand 50B of the lead wires shown in FIG. 9. The connecting strips 23 arefixed on the insulator base 21 by a caulking rivet 30.

As above-mentioned, the prior art terminal pedestal is configured byusing a single U-shaped connecting strip 23 fixed alone in eachcompartment, and therefore only two connecting tips 29A and 29B forconnecting the receiving plugs 50A and 50B of the lead wires 51 areavailable for each compartment 22.

The above-configured terminal pedestal of the prior art has a problem inthat it cannot connect a multiplicity of lead wires in common in oneconnecting compartment because the number of connecting tips is small,in particular, limited to only two.

SUMMARY AND OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is proposed in order to solve the above-mentionedproblems and has as its object the provision of a terminal pedestal thatcan connect a multiplicity of lead wires in one connecting compartment,by employing a plurality type of the connecting strips which may have aplurality of the connecting tips for each of the connectingcompartments.

According to the present invention, there is provided a terminalpedestal comprising:

an insulator base consisting essentially of a plate part, and aplurality of partition walls provided on the plate part, which areextending in lengthwise and widthwise directions of the plate part andintersecting with each other thereby defining a plurality of connectingcompartments on the plate part; and

two connecting strips which each have a different width and each ofwhich are provided with a plurality of connecting tips and connectedelectrically and mechanically with a rivet in a superposing mannermaking combined connecting strips and being disposed in each of theconnecting compartments.

The above-mentioned terminal pedestal may further comprises:

another plurality of partition walls provided on the back side of theplate part, which partition walls on the back side are extending inlengthwise and widthwise directions of the plate part and intersectingwith each other thereby defining back side connecting compartments onthe back side thereby forming substantially symmetrical connectingcompartments on both sides of the plate part; and

two other connecting strips, which each have different width and each ofwhich are provided with a plurality of connecting tips and connectedelectrically and mechanically with the rivet in a superposing manner andbeing disposed in each of the back side connecting compartments,

the other connecting strips being connected with the first-mentionedconnecting strips through the rivets piercing through the plate part.

In the above-mentioned terminal pedestal, each of the above-mentionedother connecting strips may be disposed on each of the first-mentionedconnecting compartments together with each of the first-mentionedconnecting strips, and each of the connecting tips of theabove-mentioned other connecting strips may thus be projected to thesecond-mentioned connecting compartments through the plate part.

Alternatively, each of the second-mentioned connecting strips may bedisposed in each of the second-mentioned connecting compartments in asubstantially symmetrical manner with each of the first-mentionedconnecting strips.

In the above-mentioned terminal pedestal, the connecting strips arepreferably fixed on the plate part by caulking rivets, and the insulatorbase may be formed integrally with the plate part and the partitionwalls.

In the above-mentioned terminal pedestal, at least one of the pluralityof partition walls is provided with a display strip on its top face.

As above-mentioned, the terminal pedestal of the present invention isconfigured by accommodating the U-shaped connecting strips of varioustypes (e.g. twin-type, triple type, etc.) for their connecting tips, foreach of the connecting compartment. Therefore, the available number ofthe connecting tips can be made sufficient for connecting a multiplicityof lead wires in one connecting compartment, and the connectingcompartments can arbitrary be selected in compliance with the number ofthe connecting tips.

Further, when the display strips are provided on the top faces of thepartition walls, one of the connecting compartments can be distinguishedclearly from the others. Thereby the workability in a connectingoperation may be much improved.

While the novel features of the present invention are set forthparticularly in the appended claims, the invention, both as toorganization and content, will be better understood and appreciated,along with other objects and features thereof, from the followingdetailed description taken in conjunction with the appended drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a terminal pedestal built in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front cross-sectional view as seen from a plane cut alongthe line II--II in FIG. 1.

FIG. 2A is a front cross-sectional view showing a terminal pedestalbuilt in accordance with an embodiment which is a modified form of theexample of FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 is a side cross-sectional view as seen from a plane cut along theline III--III in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the connecting strips connected continuouslyand developed for illustration.

FIG. 5 is a front cross-sectional view showing a terminal pedestal builtin accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5A is a front cross-sectional view showing a terminal pedestal ofstill another embodiment modified from the example of FIG. 5.

FIG. 6 is a front cross-sectional view showing a terminal pedestal builtin accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing an example of the prior art terminalpedestal.

FIG. 8 is a front cross-sectional view showing the terminal pedestalshown in FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the way of connecting wires to theconnecting tips.

It will be recognized that some or all of the Figures are schematicrepresentations for purposes of illustration and do not necessarilydepict the actual relative sizes or locations of the elements shown.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [Example 1]

In the following paragraphs, a first embodiment of the present inventionwill be described with reference to FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. In thesefigures, an insulator base 1 comprises a plate part 1E integrallypress-molded with partition walls 1A and 1B. The lengthwise andwidthwise partition walls 1A and 1B are extending in lengthwise andwidthwise directions in checker-board fashion and intersecting with eachother, respectively, thereby defining a plurality of connectingcompartments 2a, 2b, 2c.

In each of the connecting compartments 2a, 2b, 2c, there are providedone of narrower U-shaped connecting strips 3, 4 or 5, and one of theother wider U-shaped connecting strips 6, 7 or 8, both being secured onthe insulator base 1 with caulking rivets 10. The wider U-shapedconnecting strips 6, 7 or 8 have a larger width than that of thenarrower U-shaped connecting strips 3, 4 or 5 and the latter 3, 4 or 5are superimposed on the former ones 6, 7 or 8, respectively. As shown inFIG. 1, the connecting strips 3 and 6 each have two connecting tips 9Aand tips 9B, and 9C and 9D for connecting the lead wires, respectively.Thus, in the first row of FIG. 1, each of the connecting compartments 2aaccommodates a total of four connecting tips 9. In the second row ofFIG. 1, each of the narrower and wider connecting strips 4 and 7 hasfour connecting tips 9 for connecting the lead wires, and therefore eachof the connecting compartments 2b accommodates a total of eightconnecting tips 9. In the third row of FIG. 1, each of the narrower andwider connecting strips 5 and 8 has eight connecting tips 9 forconnecting the lead wires, and therefore each of the connectingcompartments 2c accommodates a total of sixteen connecting tips 9. Thecaulking rivets 10 also serve electrically and mechanically to connectthe narrower connecting strip 3 with the wider connecting strip 6, thenarrower connecting strip 4 with the wider connecting strip 7, and thenarrower connecting strip 5 with the wider connecting strip 8,respectively.

On each of the top faces of the lengthwise extending partition walls 1A,there is engraved a groove 12. And therein, each display strip 11 forindicating the type or function of each connecting compartments isembedded, and thereon a cover 13 for protecting the display strip isembedded.

The terminal pedestal configured as mentioned above can connect amultiplicity of the lead wires in common, by providing a multiplicity ofcombinations of the narrower and wider connecting strips 3 and 6, or 4and 7, or 5 and 8 which are connected to each other, each having aplurality of connecting tips thereon. Further, by providing a pluralityof different numbers of the connecting tips 9 accommodated in each ofthe rows of connecting compartments, such as, four in the connectingcompartments 2a, eight in the connecting compartments 2b and sixteen inthe connecting compartments 2c, it is possible to selectively usedesired connecting compartments depending upon the number of thenecessary connecting tips 9.

In addition to the above-mentioned, as a result of providing the displaystrips 11 on the top walls of the partition walls 1A, differentiation ofthe connecting compartments is easy, and thus the workability of theterminal pedestal in applications requiring the connecting of amultiplicity of lead wires is improved.

Moreover, various types of the connecting strips are easily produced,because they can be manufactured by merely dividing (cutting)continuously aligned strips 14 as shown by FIG. 4 into desired lengthsfor the individual strips.

FIG. 2A is an example further modified from the example of FIG. 2. Inthis example, connecting tips 9A and 9C are made in a first integralbody, while connecting tips 9B and 9D are made in a second integralbody. And these two integral bodies of the same shape are connected to acommon base metal sheet 6" by caulking rivets 10 and 10'.

[Example 2]

Another embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in across-sectional view of FIG. 5. The plan view of this embodiment is thesame as that of the Example 1 and thus omitted here for brevity.

In this embodiment, the partition walls 1A and 1B are provided extendingbelow beyond the plate part 1E of the insulator base 1 further to theback side thereof, thereby forming the back side partition walls 1A' and1B' and defining another plurality of back side connecting compartments2a', 2b', 2c' on the back side face of the plate part 1E of theinsulator base 1.

In each of the connecting compartments, the plate part 1E of theinsulator base 1 is provided with through holes 1C and 1D. The back sidewider connecting strips 6' are disposed beneath the wider connectingstrips 6, and the back side narrower connecting strips 3' are similarlyplaced beneath the narrower connecting strips 6', in a back to backfashion. Then, all of the connecting strips 3, 6, 3' and 6' accommodatedin the first-mentioned connecting compartments 2a, 2b, 2c are verticallyconnected together and mounted on the insulator base 1 in skeweringmanner by a caulking rivets 10. The connecting tips 9A', 9B', 9C' and9D' of the back side connecting strips 3' and 6' are projected downwardto the back side connecting compartments 2b' via the through holes 1Cand 1D bored on the plate part of the insulator base 1, respectively.

Although not illustrated in the drawing, in the connecting compartmentsarranged parallel with the row of the compartments illustrated in FIG.5, the connecting strips at both front and back sides are fixed on theplate part of the insulator base 1.

In this embodiment, the number of the connecting tips available forconnecting with the lead wires is doubled as compared with the foregoingembodiment.

FIG. 5A shows an example further modified from the example of FIG. 5. Inthis example, upper connecting tips 9A and 9C are made in a firstintegral body, while upper connecting tips 9B and 9D are made in asecond integral body. Besides the lower connecting tips are also madesimilarly in lower integral bodies. And the upper and lower integralbodies of the same shape are connected on the upper face and lower faceof a common base metal sheet 6" by caulking rivets 10 and 10' insymmetry to the base metal sheet 6". The base metal sheet 6" is fixed bycaulking rivets 10" to the insulator base 1 having large through holes1C for disposing the fixed base parts of the lower integral bodiestherethrough.

[Example 3]

A further embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in across-sectional view of FIG. 6. The plan view of this embodiment is thesame as that of the Example 1 and thus omitted here for brevity.

As in the foregoing Example 2, the partition walls 1A and 1B areextending below beyond the insulator base 1 further to the back side,thereby forming the back side partition walls 1A' and 1B' and defininganother plurality of back side connecting compartments 2' on the backside face of the insulator base 1.

In contrast to the terminal pedestal of Example 2, the whole parts ofthe connecting strips 3' and 6' disposed in the back side connectingcompartment 2' and the counterpart connecting strips 3 and 6 in thefront side connecting compartment 2 are disposed in substantially thesymmetrical fashion with respect to the insulator base 1, respectively.All of the connecting strips 3, 6, 3' and 6' are mounted and fixed onthe insulator base 1 together by a caulking rivets 10. As a result ofthe rivet-caulking, the connecting strips 3, 6, 3' and 6' areelectrically connected for performing the same function as that of theExample 2.

Although the present invention has been described in terms of thepresently preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that suchdisclosure is not to be interpreted as limiting. Various alterations andmodifications will no doubt become apparent to those skilled in the artafter having read the above disclosure. Accordingly, it is intended thatthe appended claims be interpreted as covering all alterations andmodifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is
 1. A terminal pedestal comprising:an insulator baseconsisting essentially of a plate part, and a plurality of partitionwalls provided on said plate part, which extend in lengthwise andwidthwise direction of said plate part and intersect each other therebydefining rows and columns, wherein each of said rows comprises aplurality of connecting compartments on said plate part; each of saidcompartments containing two first connecting strips having differentlengths compared with the first connecting strips contained in adjacentcompartments of the same row; the two first connecting strips eachhaving a different width and each being provided with a plurality ofconnecting tips; a rivet for connecting said two first connecting stripselectrically and mechanically to one another in superposing manner anddisposed in each of said connecting compartments; another plurality ofpartition walls provided on a back side of said plate part, whichpartition walls on the back side extend in lengthwise and widthwisedirections of said plate pan and intersect each other thereby definingrows and columns, wherein each of said rows comprises back sideconnecting compartments on said back side thereby forming substantiallysymmetrical connecting compartments on both sides of said plate part;each of said back side compartments containing two second connectingstrips having different lengths compared with the second connectingstrips contained in adjacent back side compartments of the same row; andsaid two second connecting strips rich having a different width and eachbeing provided with a plurality of connecting tips; said connecting saidtwo second connecting strips to one another electrically andmechanically, in superposing manner; and said two second connectingstrips being electrically connected with said two first connectingstrips through said rivet piercing through said plate part.
 2. Aterminal pedestal in accordance with claim 1, wherein;base parts of saidtwo second connecting strips are disposed in each of said connectingcompartments together with the first connecting strips, and each of saidconnecting tips of said second connecting strips is projected to saidback side connecting compartments through said plate part.
 3. A terminalpedestal in accordance with claim 1, wherein;each of said secondconnecting strips is disposed in each of said back side connectingcompartments in a substantially symmetrical manner with each of thefirst connecting strips.
 4. A terminal pedestal in accordance with claim1, 2 or 3, wherein said connecting strips are fixed on said plate partby caulking
 5. A terminal pedestal in accordance with claim 1, 2 or 3,wherein said insulator base is an integral mold with said plate part andsaid partition walls.
 6. A terminal pedestal in accordance with claim 1,2 or 3, wherein at least one of said plurality of partition walls isprovided with a display strip on its top face.